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It's LAPTOP time! Help me out guys!
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Sushipunk
Ok, so I want to get another laptop. I'm looking at the Toshiba M300/700, and it looks pretty good.

Do any of you guys/gals own one, or know someone with one? Any issues, pros or cons?

It is only available with Vista here, but the first thing we'll be doing is getting XP on there, as a dual boot Vista/XP if possible?

The price will be $1200 AUD (obviously, the pricing in the US and anywhere else will be very different, so saying OMG $1200 is too expensive lololol isn't gonna make -all difference :p).

Thoughts? Comments? Especially on the dual-boot Vista/XP part?

I know there are some smart motherfuckers on here, so I'm interested in any feedback.

The specs are:

* SCREEN: 14.1” *CSV* WIDE-SCREEN (1280x800) LCD/TFT
* CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0GHz - 667MHz-FSB
* RAM: 2GB/2048MB DDR2 RAM
* HDD: 200GB @ 5400RPM SATA HDD
* ODD: Dual Layer DVD+/-RW + CD-R/RW Drive
* VIDEO: SMA Intel X3100 (GM965 - 128MB+) Video Card
* OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
* OTHER FEATURES: 10/100-LAN, 802.11G, 1394-FireWire, 56k Modem, Web-Cam.

Cheers :)
Halcyon+On+On
2 Gigs of ram and Vista makes me wince.
Teezdalien
I found this post in the NI user forums. I don't mean to put you off or anything but you should probably look into this in any case.

Toshiba Laptops and Traktor - Cautionary information
We've been tracking a number of users in recent weeks with a Variety of late model Toshiba Core2Duo laptop who are experiencing significant audio difficulties dropouts, pops and clicks when playing using Traktor and several other pro or realtime audio applications. A number of users have delved into their problems and the combined consensus is that the root cause of the issue is the Fan controller for the laptop. Several users have reported workarounds with varying degrees of success most notably changing the Computer type in Windows Device Manager to Multiprocessor with results in complete loss of ACPI control but forces the fan to run always. This _could_ lead to other problems so proceeed with caution.

Toshiba are aware of the issue and several attempts to ellicit guidance and help were ignored or rebuffed by totally disinterested engineers who were totally unwilling to make any attempt at help at all. There presently is no fix from Toshiba for the problem and recent BIOS fixes released by Toshiba do NOT address this issue, as reported by actual users. It affects both Windows XP and Vista users.

This problem affects a number of different models of the Toshiba Laptop line, A complete list is not available but if you have a laptop you know to be affected by this issue please post your model number to this thread. One that is known to be an issue is Toshiba A135-S4407.

In the meantime if you have just purchased a Toshiba laptop with the intent of using it for Traktor then you should immediately ascertain whether you laptop is one that is affected and you should consider returning it to obtain a laptop that is not affected. As stated there is no help from Toshiba forthcoming and no guidance at all on when / if a fix is coming.

If you are presently contemplating a new laptop purchase and want to avoid these problems then you should not include Toshiba in your list of candidate brands, at least until this issue is fully resloved.

Other Laptop brands that have yielded execllent results of Late

Lenovo
Dell
HP
Acer
ASUS
Alienware
Sony
Fujitsu
Apple

(As a qualifier for this: Until about 3 weeks ago Toshiba was in my top 3 laptop brands I recommended, I now actively discourage all potential buyers from purchasing Toshiba for this very reason. On average I would recommend 25-30 brand / models a month to people.)

More Info:
http://forums.computers.toshiba-euro...8631&sta rt=0
http://forums.computers.toshiba-euro...threadID=22582
shuni
that toshiba sound nice, but forget about vista:whip:
Sushipunk
quote:
Originally posted by Teezdalien
I found this post in the NI user forums. I don't mean to put you off or anything but you should probably look into this in any case.

Toshiba Laptops and Traktor - Cautionary information
We've been tracking a number of users in recent weeks with a Variety of late model Toshiba Core2Duo laptop who are experiencing significant audio difficulties dropouts, pops and clicks when playing using Traktor and several other pro or realtime audio applications. A number of users have delved into their problems and the combined consensus is that the root cause of the issue is the Fan controller for the laptop. Several users have reported workarounds with varying degrees of success most notably changing the Computer type in Windows Device Manager to Multiprocessor with results in complete loss of ACPI control but forces the fan to run always. This _could_ lead to other problems so proceeed with caution.

Toshiba are aware of the issue and several attempts to ellicit guidance and help were ignored or rebuffed by totally disinterested engineers who were totally unwilling to make any attempt at help at all. There presently is no fix from Toshiba for the problem and recent BIOS fixes released by Toshiba do NOT address this issue, as reported by actual users. It affects both Windows XP and Vista users.

This problem affects a number of different models of the Toshiba Laptop line, A complete list is not available but if you have a laptop you know to be affected by this issue please post your model number to this thread. One that is known to be an issue is Toshiba A135-S4407.

In the meantime if you have just purchased a Toshiba laptop with the intent of using it for Traktor then you should immediately ascertain whether you laptop is one that is affected and you should consider returning it to obtain a laptop that is not affected. As stated there is no help from Toshiba forthcoming and no guidance at all on when / if a fix is coming.

If you are presently contemplating a new laptop purchase and want to avoid these problems then you should not include Toshiba in your list of candidate brands, at least until this issue is fully resloved.

Other Laptop brands that have yielded execllent results of Late

Lenovo
Dell
HP
Acer
ASUS
Alienware
Sony
Fujitsu
Apple

(As a qualifier for this: Until about 3 weeks ago Toshiba was in my top 3 laptop brands I recommended, I now actively discourage all potential buyers from purchasing Toshiba for this very reason. On average I would recommend 25-30 brand / models a month to people.)

More Info:
http://forums.computers.toshiba-euro...8631&sta rt=0
http://forums.computers.toshiba-euro...threadID=22582


I'm no DJ. Not even close. Traktor issues will not be a problem.
Teezdalien
Ok. Just thought you may have been using it for laptop DJing. Probably poses no problems for other apps.
Actually sounds like a decent computer from the specs, apart from vista which I also have stability problems with on mine.;)
Cloudburst
If you want to install XP on it you need to make sure there are XP drivers available, which is not always the case with new laptops. If there are drivers, then you can just partition your hard drive and install XP on the other partition. Right click on Computer and choose Manage and take it from there.

Although if you install XP after Vista, XP's boot loader will overwrite/ up Vista's newer and better so you will only be able to start up XP. You will need to fix Vista's loader. Usually you just start up with the Vista DVD and select "fix boot loader", but some more things may have to be done. See google.
Sushipunk
quote:
Originally posted by Cloudburst
If you want to install XP on it you need to make sure there are XP drivers available, which is not always the case with new laptops. If there are drivers, then you can just partition your hard drive and install XP on the other partition. Right click on Computer and choose Manage and take it from there.

Although if you install XP after Vista, XP's boot loader will overwrite/ up Vista's newer and better so you will only be able to start up XP. You will need to fix Vista's loader. Usually you just start up with the Vista DVD and select "fix boot loader", but some more things may have to be done. See google.


Thanks for the info :) Looking into it.
Capitalizt
better specs and $500 less:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...c=DNDWJA3&s=dhs
Fledz
Vista + 128mb card = not good.

XP is cool though, get that if you can. What's your primary use for this lappy going to be?

Fledz
quote:
Originally posted by Capitalizt
better specs and $500 less:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...c=DNDWJA3&s=dhs


He's buying from the Au store, not US store. That link won't help him much.
Sushipunk
quote:
Originally posted by Capitalizt
better specs and $500 less:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...c=DNDWJA3&s=dhs


quote:
Originally posted by Sushipunk obviously, the pricing in the US and anywhere else will be very different, so saying OMG $1200 is too expensive lololol isn't gonna make -all difference


quote:
Originally posted by Fledz
He's buying from the Au store, not US store. That link won't help him much.


:p




To answer your question Fledz, it's going to be a very general computer. We already have other high-end gear, so there's not too much pressure on this machine. But, for portability and backup, I wouldn't mind somewhat decent.
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